There are numerous golf practice putting systems or devices which allow a golfer to practice his or her putting at home or away the golf course. Many of these devices include a “cup” with a short ramp to the cup that can be placed on a carpet or rug to allow the golfer to practice putting on the carpet. While these practice devices have some value, they do not allow the golfer to practice while putting on sloped or contoured surfaces, thus practice putts with such prior art devices are essentially flat.
Various golf practice systems have been devised, however, in which tilting or adjustment of the slope of the surface on which the golfer is practicing is possible. Thus, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,518,245; 5,333,876; 5,046,741; and 2,937,875 all disclose tiltable practice surfaces on which a golfer can practice hitting up-hill or down-hill lies with various non-putter clubs. These systems tend to be based upon the use of a tiltable platform or table, but they are not intended for putting practice.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,146,284; 5,431,403; 4,709,538; 3,366,388; and 2,334,540 disclose devices which are designed to enable putting practice and they disclose structures which enable adjustment of the slope or contour of the putting green. These systems range in sophistication and complexity from a relatively simple tiltable surface of U.S. Pat. No. 5,431,403 to complex contour adjustable systems as is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,790,538. Most of these systems, however, have tended to be unduly complex and costly, and therefore, they often are not well suited for home use.
An example of a commercially available practice putting green is the system sold under the trademark PUTTGOLF. The PUTTGOLF system is capable of adjustment of both the slope and contour of the putting surface. It employs a plurality of support rods and adjustable feet and can be assembled at home and adjusted periodically by the user. While capable of a wide range of adjustments, the PUTTGOLF system is time-consuming to assemble and tedious to adjust.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an adjustable contour and slope putting device which can be easily assembled and in which at least one of the contour and the slope of the putting surface can be rapidly adjusted.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an adjustable practice putting green assembly which is durable, capable of length adjustments as well as slope and contour adjustments, is relatively inexpensive to manufacture and can be easily transported from place to place and reassembled and used.
The adjustable practice putting green assembly and method of the present invention have other objects and features of advantage which will become apparent from, and are set forth in more detail in, the following description of the Best Mode of Carrying Out the Invention and the accompanying drawing.